


Pertubations and Osculations

by Terrie



Series: Natural Phenomena [6]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Family Dynamics, Harry Wells' people skills, M/M, no Flashpoint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-14
Updated: 2017-03-14
Packaged: 2018-10-05 04:38:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10297691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Terrie/pseuds/Terrie
Summary: Jesse might be the youngest member of Team Flash, but right now, she's also the scariest. Cisco is so not ready for this.





	

**Author's Note:**

> You know. I was worried I had Harry too affectionate in this series, but I went back to watch some of the post-Jesse's rescue stuff and for a guy with such a stand-offish personality, he's really... huggy. 
> 
> Also, Jesse is tough to write, because so much of her maturing takes place off screen. While Zoom has her, while Harry is looking for her on Earth-1, while out of sight on Earth-2...

Cisco has an apartment. It’s a perfectly nice one-bedroom, 15 minutes from STAR Labs, 3 blocks from the grocery store, and with off-street parking. Last night had been the first time he’d slept there in over a week. 

Not that he hadn’t been back. Everyone kept a few changes of clothing at the lab, because who knew when they’d be stuck there for three days straight due to a crisis, but there were limits, and he’d needed clean socks and underwear. He’d been back to his apartment plenty of times. He just hadn’t been sleeping there. 

Jesse had gotten back into town the night before. Cisco knows her decision to go back to Opal City for grad school drove Harry nuts. He had tried very hard to convince her that Central City University was a perfectly good school, but she had countered that the name “Wells,” while common enough that they had kept it when Felicity has set up her legal identity, was a lot less likely to invite attention outside of Central City. Plus, she knew people in Opal City. Plus, it didn’t have metahumans. Plus, in an emergency, they could have Barry run her back. Plus… Harry had caved under the unending litany of reasons why Jesse was going to Opal City, with or without his approval. He still hated it.

It’s an obvious thing to give Harry time to catch up with Jesse. Jesse probably had tons to tell her father, and Harry… Harry needed to tell Jesse about Cisco. It's weird to think that last night, while Cisco was at home distracting himself with the comedic styling of 10 Things I Hate About You, Harry was telling Jesse about Cisco’s new involvement in his life. Hopefully with lots of glossing over the details of that involvement.

Intellectually, he knows it’s silly. Jesse is old enough and smart enough to figure out that if Harry’s telling her about the relationship, they’re sleeping together. But he can’t figure out he can look Jesse in the eye knowing that she knows he’s having sex with her dad. Is there an etiquette for dealing with someone when less than 48 hours before, their father had worked you open on his fingers so you could ride his cock until your legs gave out? His muscles still ache.

He's a bundle of nerves when he gets to Star Labs. So walking into the Cortex to find Jesse waiting for him is nearly enough to make him crawl out of his skin. And she’s clearly waiting for him. She’s straddling one of the chairs, her arms crossed over the back of the seat, chin resting on her arms, watching the door.

"Heeeey." He looks around for someone to rescue him, but they're alone in the Cortex. He inches around the edge of the room towards his usual seat. It's not subtle. He tries to distract her with some basic small talk. “You look good. How’s school? Classes going okay?”

Jesse doesn’t even try to hide her amusement. The expression on her face emphasizes her resemblance to her father. "I'm not going to bite, Cisco."

"Didn't really think you would." He wipes his palms against his pants. His hands aren't sweaty, but he feels like they should be. "I've just never done this before."

"If it helps, this is not a conversation I've ever had, either. The few times Dad ever introduced me to his plus one for whatever event he couldn’t get out of, it was always some business associate going along for professional schmoozing." She grins. "Dad always hated those things, but he looks really good in a tux."

Cisco tries to picture that. "I saw this Earth's Dr. Wells, or, well, Thawne, in a tux more than once, but when I try to picture Harry, he just looks cranky."

"That is not inaccurate." She frowns and bites her lower lip. “He wasn’t always like that. He changed after my mom died. Acted like caring about other people was too much trouble. Like being alone was easier. He’s different here. He really cares about you.”

“I care about him, too.” It feels odd to say it, when he’s never said it to Harry, but Jesse seems like she needs to actually hear the words.

"I'm glad. I know Dad's not the easiest person, and he can -"

"Jesse, I have seen your dad at his worst. Sometimes, he's a jerk." He edges closer to Jesse's chair. "There are times I want to slug him in his smug face. But for every moment like that? There are about ten where I'm glad he's here. You don't have to make excuses for him, okay? I will still like him."

She looks at him, her eyes wide and startled. “I wasn’t… Okay, yeah, I was. After the time the scientist from Atlantis stormed out and refused to come back, I worried that if I didn’t, he’d say the wrong thing to the wrong person and start an international incident. People would actually ask me if he was a robot or something.”

Cisco can't stop the strangled, snorting noise that escapes him. He makes the mistake of meeting Jesse gaze, and they both descend into giggles. She adds, "People really asked that. Like, more than one person. When he told me about you, I almost said “Oh my god, proof you really are human.’"

"He is not that bad."

"He was, sometimes. Not all the time. He could play nice for the reporters or the investors if he needed to. But if you screwed up? Watch out. There’s a reason that Atlantis guy refused to come back. I like who he is here better.” She leans towards him so their shoulders brush. “Maybe now I can actually go on a date without my dad trying to come along and supervise. You’ll help distract him, right?”

“Oh, hell, no.”

“Why not?”

“Because I am many things, but stupid is not one of them.” There's only one way for things to end if he gets between Harry and his daughter. Badly. And on an epic scale. Cisco would have to flee to Star City and hide behind Felicity. Also the Green Arrow, but against Harry, he would need brains, not brawn. “Besides, wasn’t that half the point of going to Opal City? Hard for him to hover all the way from here.”

“We’re talking about my dad. There is no stopping him. If he had his way, I would be in a convent.” She looks hopeful. “I’m not asking you to lie to him or anything, just keep him occupied.”

And this conversation is every bit as horrifying as he feared. He stands and moves to leave. “Nope, not going there.”

“Okay, okay.” Jesse grabs him by the sleeve and pulls him back down. “I’ll stop. That was... too much. Sorry. Dad's not the only one who gets awkward with people sometimes."

Cisco drops back into his chair. He should probably say something, but has no idea what. Jesse isn't the only one prone to occasional social awkwardness. He's still groping for words, when Jesse breaks the silence. "Does he...? I mean, Dad, is he...? He's good to you, right?"

She's not the first person to ask him that. Caitlin had asked. Joe hasn't said anything to Cisco, but based on the looks he keeps giving him, he has concerns. Barry hasn't said anything, but since the initial disclosure, he's been carefully ignoring the whole situation, while he works through his own issues. Still, Cisco's not expecting Harry's own daughter to be on that list. "He's fine. I mean, he's still Harry, in all his grumpy glory, but it's not like I didn't know about that going into it."

She nods. There's a small wrinkle to her forehead and her eyes are locked on a middle distance. After several moments, she says, "Dad started dating again when I was ten. He never introduced any of them to me, but some of it would make the gossip pages. Some of the stuff they said? It wasn’t good. I never really thought it was true, but it's nice to hear I was right."

The particle accelerator explosion made the front page, but never the gossip page. Tabloids on Earth-1 have no interest in scientists. Cisco cringes to think of what kind of spin would be put on Harry's "no time for nonsense" personality. "Look, Harry's not a nice person, but that doesn't mean he's not a good person. I call him an asshole because that's just what we do. I told you, you don't have to make excuses for him, or worry that he's going to drive me off. It's our relationship, and we’ll worry about it. You don’t have to, okay?"

He's not expecting Jesse to throw her arms around his neck in a hug. He can't see her face, so he can't be sure, but there's a sniffling sound that makes him think she's crying a little. He might be closer to her age than Harry's, but at the moment, he feels so much older. She's only nineteen. She's just a kid who's been though a whole lot and who worries about her dad. He pats her on the back, for lack of any idea of what else to do, until she pulls back. She wipes quickly and furtively at her eyes. Cisco pretends he doesn't notice.

"Thank you. For being good to him, too."

There's only one way for Jesse to know anything about that. "Harry told you that?"

"I had to ask first." Because of course Harry is tight-lipped even with his daughter. She continues, "Had to make sure you're good enough for my dad. So, welcome to our little family, I guess."

Cisco has no idea what Disney is like on Earth-2, but he is watching Lilo and Stitch with Jesse before she goes back to school. He's not exactly sure when, but he is going to make it happen. and if anyone asks, he's totally David. Which would make Harry Nani and Jesse would be Lilo. He’s not sure who Stitch is. Wally, maybe. He knows Iris’s brother has been emailing back and forth with Jesse. And the metaphor is getting away from him.

“So, you still haven’t told me how your classes are going.” It’s the first topic he can think of, but the moment it leaves his mouth, it feels clumsy. Does he sound like he’s trying to be parental? He’s never actually heard Harry question her on her studies, so maybe it just sounds like a friendly question. He meant it just as a friendly question.

Thankfully, Jesse answers, interrupting his rapidly tumbling thoughts. She’s secured a TA position, but since she’s younger than the other grad students and even many of the undergrads, there have been plenty of people who have underestimated her. She's part way through a story of shredding the work of another TA stupid enough to refer to her as "baby girl" to her face when she stops. "Dad!"

She darts from her chair. Cisco turns to find Harry in the doorway behind him, his arms open to catch Jesse as she throws herself at him. Harry folds his arms around his daughter, tucking her under his chin. "So, are you done? Have you reached a verdict?"

"You can keep him."

"Well, that's good, because I wasn't actually planning to give him up." Harry smiles at Cisco over Jesse's head. It tugs at something in Cisco's gut, a feeling that is becoming familiar. He drops his eyes down to avoid losing track of his own thoughts. His cheeks warm under the attention. When he looks up again, Harry has moved to stand in front of him. He cups Cisco's face in one hand, running a thumb along his cheekbone. "Hey, you."

Cisco leans into Harry's hand. Harry likes to touch, and Cisco likes being touched. It works out. Harry leans down, and Cisco meets him halfway. It's close-mouthed, almost chaste, but for the way they linger over it. Neither of them pulls back until Jesse says, "Dad, seriously? My eyes!"

Harry pulls back only far enough to break the kiss. "You're old enough to handle a little kissing. Get used to it."

"That is more than a little kissing. You know what? I'm stealing your wallet. I'll be back with Big Belly Burger. You can't do all that while you're eating."

"Triple triple for me," Cisco calls after her.

"No need to hurry back," Harry adds.

Jesse's response is lost to the feel of Harry's lips on his.

**Author's Note:**

> "Perturbation," besides meaning a state of mental discomfort, is the effect that an orbiting object will have on another object orbiting a common point. In other words, Cisco and Jesse with Harry as their common center. The orbit that would occur without the outside influence of perturbations is known as the "osculating orbit." Osculation also means kissing. :)


End file.
